Brazil's 500th Anniversary: The Paradox of Celebration

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On April 22, 1500, Portuguese explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral, while on a voyage tracing Vasco da Gama’s 1497–99 water route to India, sighted the mainland of South America after having strayed far west of his course. He landed near the present-day city of Pôrto Seguro, Braz., held a Roman Catholic mass, and promptly claimed the region—which he called Ilha de Vera Cruz (“Island of the True Cross”)—for the Portuguese crown. The new possession was later given the name Brazil, after pau-brasil, a valuable red dyewood that grew there in abundance.

Five hundred years later, on April 22, 2000, the scene at Pôrto Seguro would not be so fluid. While Brazilian Pres. Fernando Henrique Cardoso and Portuguese Pres. Jorge Sampaio celebrated the anniversary of Cabral’s landing along with government officials and invited guests, scores of peaceful demonstrators who were prevented from entering the city rallied outside to protest the commemoration of an event that for many had marked the beginning of exclusion, slavery, and extermination. The protests were the culmination of weeks of unrest. In early April state police tore down a monument of indigenous resistance constructed by the Pataxó Indians for the 2000 Conference of Indigenous Peoples and Organizations of Brazil in the reservation of Coroa Vermelha. Authorities later sealed off Pôrto Seguro, blocking access even to local residents and tourists in order to contain any movement that might threaten the official events.

On April 22 more than 6,000 policemen and army troops were on alert. That morning over 5,000 people, including 2,000 Indians, marched from Coroa Vermelha to Pôrto Seguro in a countercommemoration they dubbed “Brazil—the Other 500 Years.” The demonstrators, among whom were also members of Brazil’s landless movement, trade unions, the Roman Catholic church, and Afro-Brazilian organizations, were met at the municipal border by 300 state policemen, who used tear gas and rubber bullets to prevent their entrance into the city. While no one was reported to have been seriously injured, more than 140 persons were arrested.

Repercussions from the unrest were felt throughout the Brazilian government. Rafael Greca de Macedo, Brazil’s minister of tourism and sport, resigned. The president of the National Foundation of the Indian, Carlos Frederico Mares, also resigned. President Cardoso made reference to the country’s paradoxical celebrations of 500 years that privileged some at the expense of others by addressing the nation’s “rediscovery.” He asserted that the commemorations “provide us with three distinct moments: a reflective look at our five centuries of history, a critical analysis of the present, and a discussion of the paths that we shall follow for the construction of a Brazil with equality, liberty, and fraternity.” Many Brazilians believed that a more appropriate celebration would commemorate the founding of the Republic of Brazil in 1889.